Defense Secretary Robert Gates is recommending the closure of US Joint Forces Command as a means to shed excess Pentagon overhead. It is one of the many efficiency initiatives that he unveiled during a Pentagon press briefing Monday. “Training joint...

The Air Force on Monday chose Raytheon to supply the small diameter bomb increment II system and awarded the company a $451 million contact to start engineering and manufacturing development. The company bested a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team vying to build...

Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who is retiring as the Air Force’s first intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance boss, was not a “rogue voice,” says Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Speaking at Deptula’s retirement dinner last Friday at Bolling AFB, Washington, D.C., Schwartz said...

The Air Force’s shortfall in tactical aircraft is expected to begin in 2012 and continue for at least the next two decades, according to the Government Accountability Office. In a newly isued report, GAO projects that the shortfall will exceed...

Air Force officials have reactivated the 345th Airlift Squadron at Keesler AFB, Miss., to work with Air Force Reserve Command’s 403rd Wing in operating C-130J transports from there. This pairing is one of the Air Force’s new active associations. 345th...

Letitia Long on Monday became the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. She replaced Navy Vice Adm. Robert Murrett who led the organization since July 2006. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appointed Long back in February for the post. She served...

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has awarded $7.3 billion worth of contracts to companies DigitalGlobe and GeoEye for commercial satellite imagery products over the next 10 years. DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont, Colo., received a $3.5 billion award, while GeoEye, headquartered in Dulles, Va., won a $3.8 billion contract under the agency's new EnhancedView program, according to NGA's release. NGA said these contracts will "help meet the increasing geospatial intelligence needs" of the Defense Department and intelligence community via the next series of US commercial imagery satellites. In the case of DigitalGlobe, this means the new WorldView-3 satellite scheduled for launch by the end of 2014. For GeoEye, it is the new GeoEye-2 spacecraft with sub-half-meter imagery resolution due on orbit in late 2012. EnhancedView is the successor to NGA's NextView initiative under which these companies provided CSI products to DOD and the IC. (See also DigitalGlobe release)

Airmen and strike aircraft from several Air Force squadrons across the United States are gathered at Hill AFB, Utah, for several weeks to practice employing air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons at the Utah Test and Training Range. Participating are the 354th...

Lockheed Martin announced Monday that one of its Global Positioning System Block IIR satellites has reached 10 years of successful on-orbit operations. The Air Force launched this satellite, the fifth Block IIR spacecraft built, into space on July 16, 2000....

To celebrate the B-1’s 25th birthday, Boeing on Monday issued a release highlighting the bomber’s accomplishments over the years. Top on the list was the aircraft’s successful post-Cold War conversion from a nuclear-capable platform to the conventional-only aircraft used extensively...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, July 31, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 23 68 91 14,691 CAS/Armed Recon 20 79 99 20,190 Airlift 195 195 36,751 Air refueling 52 52 9,753 Rescue 9 9 4,449 Total...